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Stress And Living In A Sociopathic Society

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Shimmerz, you done good in posting that article. I think it brought up some salient points, even if perhaps it might have gone a little too far. But I can't even say that, since I haven't read the whole or consulted all the sources.
 
I read the first part; will read the rest later. Interesting so far to say the least!

I do think we are instant gratification people. Why exercise and eat well when you can pop a pharmaceutical?

I'm in no way a model healthy citizen, but I do know the power of going the natural way vs the manufactured drug way. (I'm not advocating this for all though.)

I think part of the problem is that figuring out exactly where we need to balance out diets. It's IN-SANE how many natural products are on the market. It's easier/cheaper to go to the doctor than to hire a nutritionist/naturalist (and many of these people are still way off the mark IMHO). I've had the most luck (oddly enough) with my shotgun/spaghetti on the wall method of throwing random supplements at my body and seeing what works. Probably the most inefficient way to go, but my options are limited. It would be way easier to call my GP, and within a few weeks I could have a new prescription for happy pills of my choice. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!
 
I generally find what I'm looking for.

If I'm looking for ways the world is f*cked up? Evil, corruption, stupidity, etc.? I find it.

If I'm looking for ways in which the world is amaaaaazing? I find that.

IME, there's always both, in the world. So the question then becomes "Where do I want to spend my time?"

There are people in both camps who flat out refuse to believe that anything exists outside their worldview, and than anyone who disagrees with them is stupid/ naive/ deluded/ drinking the Kool-aid/ whatever. Extremists. Sigh. One trick ponies, the lot of them.

Just because I choose to focus my energy in looking for amazing people & extraordinary/awe inspiring things in the world, doesn't mean I have my head in the sand. I've had ring side seats to tragedy far too often to ever believe life is all unicorns and rainbows. Just like there are people who choose to focus their energy in everything f*cked up in the world, in order to do something about it ( <grin> I find those people amazing, and am truly grateful for them). Shades of grey. :D


***

3 tricks I teach kids with critical reading skills / discernment:

1) Reasonable people can, and do, differ.

A) For every extremely well written & persuasive Dark article? Find 3 extremely well written and persuasive Light articles. On the same topic. (And speaking of unicorns, not required, but see if you can find even one fair & balanced article ;)). And vice versa. For every extremely well written & persuasive Light article? Find 3 Dark.

- Highlight what's smart &/or persuasive in each. Line them up next to each other.
- Highlight what you disagree with, in each.
- For extra credit, find some historical parallels, and see how those resolved. (History Repeats!)

B) Devil's Advocate. What would you need, with each (or anything), to counter it? (For yourself). Aka take up the position you don't hold, and argue it to the best of your ability.

2) Cui Bono - Who benefits

3) Bad Science

These don't always apply to all arguments. The morality of XYZ, for example, is philosophy. But is the article using bad science to back up their arguments? Often! (As well as logical fallacies, cognitive distortions, emotional blackmail, etc.) And vice versa. If a position is being upheld with faulty reasoning? That starts poking some big holes.
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As I read the article, it made sense, but then turned doomsday. Red flag. I kept reading, sobering statistics on suicide, but no correlation to, say post WW2, or some other stressful time in the world. Red flag. Lots of physiological vocabulary, but presented as doomsday again. And then the bright shining answer to everyone's problems. Breath. Paleo diet. Kool aid. Run, KYG, run far far away. I too, smell a cult, a little Scientology with a chaser of John Birch Society.

But @shimmerz, you also asked what we think about the drug use in society. The children I know who took Ritalin 25 years ago and are now grown still keep it on hand. Some are in management positions and they can't run a team building meeting without their Ritalin. They are grateful in hindsight that they had something to help the turn off the noise in their head during school. My son is dyslexic and it was suggested by a teacher that he go on Adderall. I said no. His problem isn't planning, organizing or paying attention. He's dyslexic-couldn't read. So in that case he was lucky to have me as an advocate.

The elderly are the largest subgroup to be taking boatloads of drugs. Like 20-30 a day. I have a problem with that in so far as I don't believe in extending life so someone can sit and stare all day. I have a living will that spells out clearly what and what not can be done to me if I become unable to talk or reason. Both of my children have a copy. I've had the talk with them.

Personally I take three psyche meds that make it possible for me to work without trembling and help me sleep. When I stop taking my antipsychotic, I can't function.

I've been learning mindfulness meditation and the breath is vital to bring my mind to the present. The breath is very important in yoga too.

I'll close with this: anybody that claims to have a sure cure for PTSD is lying.
 
Well, even if the world is ____ (whatever it is you're scared of / done with / disgusted by / anxious about / doomsday articles bring out) - you've lived in it for so many decades, successfully. Meaning you can continue living in it, because you've managed so far, and managed when you were far more vulnerable than you are right now.

Meaning it doesn't really matter if the world is a mess. You know how to get through that mess. You've done it already. So however threatening it feels? Remind yourself of that, first. Of all your strengths, proven solely by the fact you're where you are, now.
 
Hi Shimmerz,
There are only a couple of things to slip in beside what's already been written.
I scanned the piece, but skipped much of the diet stuff.
I don't doubt some of the info given, for example the figures for use of meds

some of the suicide stats, hmmm a few red herrings in there.
suicide deaths exceeding car crash deaths doesn't necessarily imply that suicides have increased, modern cars do protect occupants better, and they've got better tyres, brakes steering, lights...

The swiss having the highest rate for offing themselves with a gun - hardly a big deal, The Swiss have been the most armed people on continental Europe throughout their history - the means says nothing about the rate. Suicide rate is about numbers killing themselves - not about what means they used.

Ireland (I lived there) does have a big problem with young males offing themselves. to say that young Irish males are screwed up is an understatement, throw in that being gay is frowned upon and heavy and binge drinking are expected behaviour, and I think the expalanation for a high suicide rate ( which was high even during the boom times) is easy.

Finland, with long dark cold winters and lots and lots of heavy drinking, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a high suicide rate.

Laura Knight whatzhername - who is cited - is odd. she does make one of the classic works on psychopathy available for download, but I think she places far too much emphasis on psychopathy. There are a lot of other factors at play.

Laura Knight whatzits "earth changes" are entirely spurious (I've done enough earth sciences to dismiss what she's attaching significance to - sure some of the footage of landslides is impressive, but I used to do a lot of work stabilising rock and soil slides, all that slope instability signifies is an over steep slope for the material strength and groundwater conditions that are present), and her idea of channelling of spirits is cultish.

I guess that what we're seeing is a collection of more or less reliable factual stuff being used to arrive at a conclusion that is neither well supported. Nor does her conclusion necessarily follow from the facts that were presented.
 
Well, even if the world is
_______ = anxious about.

I think this all comes down to where I am in life right now. Re-integrating socially. And I think I am trying to figure out what the state of the nations is out there right now. I have literally been 'dead' with the catatonia, the forced isolation due to my reactionary behaviour, etc. It feels, literally like I have woken from the dead and have NO idea what society is out there anymore. Plus my internal landscape has changed. I feel like I am a new person inside this body and have NO idea how to relate anymore.

What is this world now, 10 years later? I see massive amounts of anxiety out there, I see how people are caught up in the stress of life. I understand stress now and see it all around me. I seriously feel like I am from another planet and am trying to get a grip on what this planet IS 10 years later.....

I don't even know how to express this. Add that to my lack of cognitive functions these days..... trying to sort it all out is next to impossible. I read stuff to try to find a frame of reference.... there is none for my situation. Not that I can find. No idea what I am trying to say here except I feel lost, confused, unable to cope because I don't feel I have the skills to think through what I am trying to figure out. AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! After all of this work at getting better, I feel like a five year old in an adult world. And I don't know how to grow myself up properly.

Really, thank you all.
Shimmerz
 
One of the common patterns of mainstream thought that tends to add to confusion and frustration, is the habit of thinking in collective or aggregated wholes.

You'll see and hear it all of the time on TV on mainstream newspapers and sites, on the radio...

Young people are, Iran says, women are...

It's an incredibly lazy habit and leads to all sorts of confusion, as it completely abstracts for individuals and their different abilities, likes, dislikes, experiences and value systems.

Marxists are the worst for it, Marx got it from both the Classical Economists, and from the religious communists for whom the creation alienated collective man from his rightful union with god.

Thinking in aggregated wholes also allows all sorts of fallacies to be pushed onto us without being noticed, eg; "national debt doesn't matter, as we owe it to ourselves" (JM Keynes). what is hidden in that example is the "we" and the "ourselves" are very different groups of individuals.

as soon as we (we little few on your diary) start looking at individuals, a lot of what's going on around us becomes much easier to understand.

There are a pile of other mind games played on us by the mainstream gaslighters, the essay and audiobook of it that I linked to here https://www.myptsd.com/threads/donald-trumps-popularity-to-date.55545/page-14#post-982004
explains a lot of those mind games - they haven't changed in the 450 years since the essay was written, and most of the examples used in the essay are from the ancient Greeks, Persians and the Romans.
 
"We" and "they" can mean many things, ranging from just You and I, to every human on earth. So it's best to enquire exactly what the person using the terms means by them.

The larger aggregates, such as "Americans are..." suggests that the person using them is either being ignorant sloppy and lazy, or, may be indulging in a fallacy.

In the example of "Americans" or "America", I think we know enough examples to realise that other than being people who sometimes happen to live between two increasingly fortified lines on the map, They're 300,000,000 or so very diverse individuals,

some are lovely, some are loathsome and lots more fall somewhere in between.
 
Great thread. I don't have a lot to add to what others posted. I do think like Friday said, you find what you seek. I for one had my mind blown by the pervasive level of corruption and conspiracy everywhere when I was forced to learn late about this. But at same time, when I attune to beauty and wonder and love and such, that is everywhere too.

Little known fact: Aldous Huxley was an advocate of eugenics and drugs as population control, along with others like Carnegie. Brave New World has shadier political connotations than people tend to assume. Same types helped steer the use of psychiatric drugs for sociopolitical reasons.

Do I personally think too many people are doped up on Soma? Yep.
 
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